MyGov to feel the audit blowtorch

Frustrated users of the troubled myGov web portal now have the chance to contribute to an official review of the government web portal's performance by the Commonwealth's Audit Office.

The Australian National Audit Office wants stakeholders and members of the public to make submissions to its report which is due to be tabled in parliament in spring this year.

The giant Department of Human Services, which runs myGov, has had an unhappy recent history with ANAO audits after it was savaged in mid-2015 for its performance in answering its phones.

The Audit Office says it is conducting a "performance audit" of Human Services' performance in implementing myGov, and whether the intended benefits of the portal have been realised.

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myGov was launched in 2013 and is used by several million Australians as a portal to access their Centrelink, Medicare, Child Support, Department of Veterans' Affairs, e-health, and DisabilityCare accounts.

The portal is a cornerstone of the Commonwealth's strategy of moving more and more transactions online, where they are cheap, and away from the traditional face-to-face or over-the-phone methods of service delivery.

But serious problems have emerged with the security and operability of the myGov, with users complaining of being locked out of their accounts, outages and other glitches.

There have also been serious concerns raised that the portal leaves users' information vulnerable to cyber-criminals.

Despite former Human Services Minister Stuart Robert lashing out at critics of the portal last month as "wrong" and "badly misinformed", the department has acknowledged some of the problems and initiated a program in January to identify and try to tackle the most serious issues.

Now Human Services, along with the Australian Taxation Office and the Digital Transformation Office in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet all face the auditors' scrutiny over the operation of myGov.

The Audit Office warned that it is not interested in hearing opinions about government policy but is focused on how well myGov works, why problems have emerged and how to make it better

"The ANAO does not have a role in commenting on the merits of government policy but focuses on assessing the efficient and effective implementation of government programs, including the achievement of their intended benefits," the office said on its website.

"We particularly value information that deals with significant matters or insights into the administration of the subject of this audit."